To offer free websites that you can use and/or have your students use to create 21st century projects. Sit back and enjoy, but focus your thoughts on how you might use these tools in your classroom. If something you see sparks an idea for your classroom, do not hesitate to email me if I can be of help in providing just-in-time instruction to you or to your students. You may not know the purpose of each of these sites, and I will give you a brief purpose to each of the categories, then share 1-5 examples for each category. Categories (23) vContent Age and subject-matter web-sites vTeacher Tools Wonderful tools (including templates for everything from quizzes to certificates), every teacher’s secret box of resources vVideos On-line free, unfiltered video sites for learning vWeb2.0 From Wikipedia, Web 2.0 is a phrase coined by O'Reilly Media in 2003 and popularized by the first Web 2.0 conference in 2004 and refers to a perceived second generation of web-based communities and free hosted services that facilitate collaboration and sharing between users. They have three characteristics: free, user-friendly, shares information. Some inclusions are: ØWikis Essentially a web page with an "edit" button allowing users to add and edit information. This provides a very useful, and sometimes powerful, way for the wiki users to collaborate on projects; ØBlogs Personal site, an online log (also called weblog) containing publication of content sorted in chronological order, with the most recent entry (newest post) at the top of the page. Individual entries (logs) are usually always dated and time-stamped and generate an archive of all previous post including the recent post at the top of the page; ØPodcasting A series of digital audio files created, shared, and heard; ØAggregators Content aggregators are a tool that gathers Web content from different online sources and notifies you of an update on a website; ØSocial Bookmarking A method to store, organize, search, manage, and share bookmarks of web pages on the Internet; vOrganizers ØTo Do / Organizers On-line tools that you manage, but they talk to you! ØCalendars On-line calendars that talk to you and you can share with others (family members, students, parents, etc.) vImages Try something other than Google Image Search! vSound Royalty-free music and sound effects vPresentation Tools vTools for Students ØTimelines Put the chronology back in events (and now include music, narration, authentic resources and put that product on the Internet ØComic Strip Makers Easy on-line tools to create serious or humorous satire ØNoteTaking Great tools for taking, managing, and keeping notes on-line ØMapping Tools for creating virtual tours, seeing the oddities and wonders of our cities, states, countries and the world! ØMindmapping Graphics organizers for every project ØFlashcard maker For those rote memorization times, these can be created by teachers, students or collaboratively ØBibliography The easiest way to create a bibliography ØResearch Direct your students to somewhere OTHER than Google! vMy top favorites – when someone asks me what my favorite tool is, I can’t decide between these! CONTENT ØThinkfinity Pulls the nine content area sites. From Thinkfinity, “Thinkfinity Content Partners produce nine discipline-specific, standards-based web sites that include lessons for teachers, activities to use in and out of the classroom, games for young children and teen, adult literacy resources and reference materials for anyone in the education field.” http://www.marcopolo-education.org/partners.aspx ØJust for Elementary Teachers From that amazing school district of West Milford Township, New Jersey by Mrs. Nancy Gridley and Mrs. Laura Oakes, this site is well done, easy to use and provides lots of great sites. http://www.wmtps.org/eletech/ TEACHER TOOLS Ø4 teachers.org From the site: “4Teachers.org works to help you integrate technology into your classroom by offering online tools and resources. This site helps teachers locate and create ready-to-use Web lessons, quizzes, rubrics and classroom calendars.” http://4teachers.org/ ØElementary Tools For The Classroom From that amazing school district of West Milford Township, New Jersey by Mrs. Nancy Gridley and Mrs. Laura Oakes, this site is well done, easy to use and provides lots of great sites. http://www.wmtps.org/eletech/tools.html VIDEOS ØTED TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. In 1984, the conference started by bringing together people from these three worlds. Since then, its scope has become ever broader. The annual conference now brings together some of the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, and recordings of their presentations are posted on TED). This site makes the best talks and performances from TED available free to the public. Almost 200 talks from the archive are now available, with more added each week. These videos are released under a Creative Commons license, so they can be freely shared and reposted. Don’t miss the “education” speakers as well as the “jawdroppers/” http://www.ted.com ØEdutopia The George Lucas Educational Foundation was founded in 1991 as a nonprofit foundation to celebrate and encourage innovation in schools. Since that time, they have been documenting, disseminating, and advocating for exemplary programs in K-12 public schools. Their articles and video segments allow viewers to "see" best practices in action. The Video Library contains more than 150 short documentary segments. You can sort the videos by educational topics: assessment, emotional intelligence, project-based learning, and technology integration, or via a keyword search. http://www.edutopia.org/video ØTeacherTube TeacherTube officially launched in March of2007 with the goal of establishing an online community for sharing instructional videos. Seeing the popularity of YouTube, the founders recognized a need for a more educationally focused venue for teachers, schools, and home learners. TeacherTube was developed to provide anytime/anywhere professional development with teachers teaching teachers. Teachers can also post videos designed for students to view to learn a concept or skill. The service is free for everyone. http://www.teachertube.com/ Web2.0 vWikis Essentially a web page with an "edit" button allowing users to add and edit information. This provides a very useful, and sometimes powerful, way for the wiki users to collaborate on projects ØWikispaces Definitely my favorite! Easy to use, quick, simple, fabulous customer support, loves teachers! http://www.wikispaces.com/ ØWetpaint A solid, popular tool. http://www.wetpaint.com/ vBlogs Personal site, an online log (also called weblog) containing publication of content sorted in chronological order, with the most recent entry (newest post) at the top of the page. Individual entries (logs) are usually always dated and time-stamped and generate an archive of all previous post including the recent post at the top of the page. ØBlogger From the good folks at Google, this is a great tool. Be sure to just sign up for a Google account as there are lots of other jewels. vPodcasting A series of digital audio files created, shared, and heard. ØClickcaster A very nice podcasting tool that also supports vodcasting (with both still pictures and video) http://www.clickcaster.com/ ØAudacity The most used tool in recording and sound editing, it is free, easy to use and cross-platform. http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ ØPodGuide PodGuides.net gives you free access to spoken tour guides (PodGuides) for your mp3 player. http://www.podguides.net/index.html vAggregators Content aggregators are a tool that gathers Web content from different online sources and notifies you of an update on a website. ØGoogle Reader Clearly a top contender, this is easy to use, thanks to the good folks at Google. ØNetVibes Another strong candidate, NetVibes has recently undergone a significant revamping..very much an improvement on an already good product. http://www.netvibes.com/#General ØPageFlakes One of the easiest, quickest aggregators on the web! http://www.pageflakes.com/ vSocial Bookmarking A method to store, organize, search, manage, and share bookmarks of web pages on the Internet. Delicious By far the leader in this tool, this is a great tool, but should not be considered the only one! http://delicious.com/ Magnolia Similar to delicious, this tool pulls a screen shot of the saved websites and also keeps track of lost links. http://ma.gnolia.com/ Organizers vTo Dos / Calendars ØmySchoolog mySchoolog is a free, online web-based application that helps students organize their school life easily. Students can organize everything about their school life with mySchoolog anytime, anywhere they have Internet access. Students can organize and share notes, to-do lists, appointments, store documents and files, and add lessons. http://www.myschoolog.com/ ØBackpack Backpack is an all around great organizer including note taking, file storage, to do lists, a calendar, and more. An example use could be that students can create pages in their organizer for each class and manage notes on class discussions as well as upload related files and class documents. http://www.backpackit.com/ ØTa-da Ta-da makes it easy to... Keep track of all the little things you need to get done, Make lists for other people (co-workers, friends, family), Share lists with the world ("My favorite movies of 2004"), Subscribe to your lists in RSS so you're always on track. http://www.tadalist.com/ ØRemember The Milk Remember The Milk is the easiest and best way to manage your to-do lists online. Sharing, publishing, notes... we've got it all. Receive reminders via email, instant messenger, and SMS. It's free. http://www.rememberthemilk.com/ vCALENDARS Juggling your class schedule, extracurricular activities, study time, and social life can be a challenge. The calendar apps below might help. Ø30 Boxes 30 Boxes is an online calendar that I feel works great for students due to its simplicity and sharing options. It also features RSS subscription to automatically populate the calendar with feed items on the day they were published – great for tracking teacher blogs and academic feeds. Furthermore, users can access their calendars on the go with 30 Boxes Mobile. http://www.30boxes.com/welcome.php ØGoogle Calendar A bit on the advanced side, but once you get used to it, you’ll find it’s quite powerful. Users can create multiple calendars; view by day, week, or month; share their calendars with the web or a select few; subscribe to other shared calendars; and more. More on Google Calendar. http://calendar.google.com Images There must be something more than Google Images! ØFlickr Flickr is almost certainly the best online photo management and sharing application in the world. http://www.flickr.com/ ØPics 4 Learning Pics4Learning is a copyright-friendly image library for teachers and students. The Pics4Learning collection consists of thousands of images that have been donated by students, teachers, and amateur photographers. http://www.pics4learning.com/ ØClassroom Clipart A Source for Free Clipart, Clip Art Pictures and Illustrations http://classroomclipart.com/ Sound ØFreeplay Music Awesome sound resources http://freeplaymusic.com/index.php ØPodSafe Audio Free sound files for you to use, be sure to give credit to the artist http://www.podsafeaudio.com/ ØFind Sounds Web Search Engine Easy search engine for sound effects http://www.findsounds.com/ Presentations ØOne True Media It’s a very easy way to create slideshows on the Web, and add text, music and images. http://www.onetruemedia.com/otm_site/register? ØShow Beyond Want your students to create PowerPoint but not wanting to do all that training? Wonderful simple tool for use with students of all ages.You can also add music and text. http://www.showbeyond.com Tools for Students vTimelines ØcircaVie Creates timelines with video and audio.... looks very interesting and need to add soon. The main organizing metaphor for these tools is by time/date that can explored in any order. Events are placed on a timeline, and might include text, hyperlinks, images, etc. http://www.circavie.com/ ØOurStory Write a 'story' which is what happened on a date in time, add pictures, video, and OurStory creates a timeline. Imports Flickr photos. http://www.ourstory.com/ Øxtimeline Powerful and well designed timeline.v Attach images or embed media to any entry, provide source info (for historical timelines) tags. http://xtimeline.com/ vComic Strip Makers ØToondoo Create your own 1, 2, or 3 panel cartoons using a library of cartoons, text bubbles. Images can be uploaded and manipulated with simple tools. Created "doos" can be combined into ToonBooks", embedded in blogs, etc. A lot of versatility. http://www.toondo.com ØKerpoof A fun to use cartoon tools with stock shapes and character bubbles. No import of media, no audio, no ability to create links or embed code. http://www.kerpoof.com/ vNotetaking ØNoteSake NoteSake helps you take notes faster and smarter. They keep your notes organized and easily accessible so you can spend your time elsewhere… http://notesake.com/ ØSchoolnotes Teachers can post information homework and other class information on their own personal page for parents to access. Free service with banner advertising. http://schoolnotes.com/ vMapping ØGoogleEarth Do not miss this powerful tool with hundreds of uses in the classroom, including creating your own tours. http://earth.google.com/intl/en/index.html vMindmapping Now you have your notes, you need to put them together. The following mind mapping/flow charting tools will help you get your thoughts in order so you can go from raw notes to polished work. ØBubbl.us Bubbl.us is a simple and free web application that lets you brainstorm online. http://bubbl.us/ ØMind42 Manage all your ideas, whether alone, twosome or working together with the whole world - collaborative, browser-based and for free. http://mind42.com/ vFlashcard Maker ØBrain Tune Focused more on sharing topic specific flash cards, which they called catalogs, this site enables its community to compile a highly relevant and expansive database of flash cards. They also display stats on individual community members’ overall performance, indicating how many total questions you have answered correctly. http://www.brain-tune.com/ ØFlashcard Machine Flash Card Machine, a web application that enables users to create interactive web-based study flash cards and share them with others. Students! Create flash cards to help you study for your next exam. Make them publicly available and your classmates can study from the same set. Teachers! Create flash card sets for your students. Assign each set of flash cards their own unique username and password giving your students access without them having to register. http://www.flashcardmachine.com/ vBibiliography Tools ØEasyBib An “automatic bibliography composer” that lets users enter sources and fill out a simple forms to be given MLA style bibliographies. I’ve used this multiple times in the past for research papers. http://www.easybib.com/#sourceList vResearch ØAnswers.com Excellent site for researching anything at all. Make a search and receive results from dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other information sources. http://www.answers.com/
Wikipedia Wikipedia is a collaborative encyclopedia under a Wiki platform that is written and maintained by volunteers. It has possibly grown to be today’s largest reference site and encyclopedia on the Internet. http://www.wikipedia.org/
Newsvine I could have picked any ol’ news site for this post, but Newsvine is, in my opinion, the best news source for students. It’s a clean and friendly social news site containing articles from the Associated Press, ESPN, and New Scientist as well as user contributions. Students can browse the site comfortably, rate news articles, participate in article discussion, and even start their own news column where they can write and publish articles. http://www.newsvine.com/ My Top Favorites—not to miss! vBlabberize Rather simple and crude, but can be effective! Upload a picture of a frontal view of a face, mark the key points of the mouth, and record the audio. It creates a simple animation of the mount moving to the sound of the voice. http://www.blabberize.com/ vReadthewords ReadTheWords.com is a free, web based service that assists people with written material. http://www.readthewords.com/ vLetterpop Letter Pop is a web-based newsletter publishing center. Best of all, Letter Pop is free! The newsletters are easy to create, just add text and pictures. http://letterpop.com vDigication Digication is a website that allows teachers and students to create and keep e-portfolios. E-Portfolios are online spaces for teachers and students to communicate, share, reflect and collaborate in and outside of the classroom and have created exciting opportunities for teaching and learning world-wide. E-portfolios can be a continuing body of work that follow students throughout their school experience. The communication aspect that Digication provides makes for a richer school experience. The Student/Teacher edition of Digication is free. http://www.digication.com/products/students_teachers vShelfari Shelfari is a virtual bookshelf that you create to show off books that you have read and recommend. It is a Web 2.0 site that allows you to connect with students, other teachers, and parents around books. Shelfari is a great way to discover new titles, discuss books, start an online book club, and show others what you are reading. You can show off your Shelfari bookshelf on your blog, classroom website, or other social networking site of choice. Really cool! http://www.shelfari.com/ vMy Stickies My Stickies is a browser extension that allows users to create the digital equivalent of a sticky note and link it permanently to a web page. The stickies can be tagged for easy sorting and your stickies can be shared collaboratively. The dashboard is the central page. https://www.mystickies.com/ vFleck Fleck let’s you take any webpage and create virtual post-it notes to “paste” on them. They’re great for students to demonstrate their use of reading strategies. http://fleck.com/ vBubbleshare Create from uploaded images, clip art library, records 30 second audio/video captions for each image. Overlay comic bubbles with text. Code to embed in blogs, web site. Options to have prints made as books, posters. http://www.bubbleshare.com/
Purpose of presentation
To offer free websites that you can use and/or have your students use to create 21st century projects. Sit back and enjoy, but focus your thoughts on how you might use these tools in your classroom. If something you see sparks an idea for your classroom, do not hesitate to email me if I can be of help in providing just-in-time instruction to you or to your students.
You may not know the purpose of each of these sites, and I will give you a brief purpose to each of the categories, then share 1-5 examples for each category.
Categories (23)
v Content
Age and subject-matter web-sites
v Teacher Tools
Wonderful tools (including templates for everything from quizzes to certificates), every teacher’s secret box of resources
v Videos
On-line free, unfiltered video sites for learning
v Web2.0
From Wikipedia, Web 2.0 is a phrase coined by O'Reilly Media in 2003 and popularized by the first Web 2.0 conference in 2004 and refers to a perceived second generation of web-based communities and free hosted services that facilitate collaboration and sharing between users. They have three characteristics: free, user-friendly, shares information. Some inclusions are:
Ø Wikis
Essentially a web page with an "edit" button allowing users to add and edit information. This provides a very useful, and sometimes powerful, way for the wiki users to collaborate on projects;
Ø Blogs
Personal site, an online log (also called weblog) containing publication of content sorted in chronological order, with the most recent entry (newest post) at the top of the page. Individual entries (logs) are usually always dated and time-stamped and generate an archive of all previous post including the recent post at the top of the page;
Ø Podcasting
A series of digital audio files created, shared, and heard;
Ø Aggregators
Content aggregators are a tool that gathers Web content from different online sources and notifies you of an update on a website;
Ø Social Bookmarking
A method to store, organize, search, manage, and share bookmarks of web pages on the Internet;
v Organizers
Ø To Do / Organizers
On-line tools that you manage, but they talk to you!
Ø Calendars
On-line calendars that talk to you and you can share with others (family members, students, parents, etc.)
v Images
Try something other than Google Image Search!
v Sound
Royalty-free music and sound effects
v Presentation Tools
v Tools for Students
Ø Timelines
Put the chronology back in events (and now include music, narration, authentic resources and put that product on the Internet
Ø Comic Strip Makers
Easy on-line tools to create serious or humorous satire
Ø NoteTaking
Great tools for taking, managing, and keeping notes on-line
Ø Mapping
Tools for creating virtual tours, seeing the oddities and wonders of our cities, states, countries and the world!
Ø Mindmapping
Graphics organizers for every project
Ø Flashcard maker
For those rote memorization times, these can be created by teachers, students or collaboratively
Ø Bibliography
The easiest way to create a bibliography
Ø Research
Direct your students to somewhere OTHER than Google!
v My top favorites – when someone asks me what my favorite tool is, I can’t decide between these!
CONTENT
Ø Thinkfinity
Pulls the nine content area sites. From Thinkfinity, “Thinkfinity Content Partners produce nine discipline-specific, standards-based web sites that include lessons for teachers, activities to use in and out of the classroom, games for young children and teen, adult literacy resources and reference materials for anyone in the education field.”
http://www.marcopolo-education.org/partners.aspx
Ø Just for Elementary Teachers
From that amazing school district of West Milford Township, New Jersey
by Mrs. Nancy Gridley and Mrs. Laura Oakes, this site is well done, easy to use and provides lots of great sites.
http://www.wmtps.org/eletech/
TEACHER TOOLS
Ø 4 teachers.org
From the site: “4Teachers.org works to help you integrate technology into your classroom by offering online tools and resources. This site helps teachers locate and create ready-to-use Web lessons, quizzes, rubrics and classroom calendars.”
http://4teachers.org/
Ø Elementary Tools For The Classroom
From that amazing school district of West Milford Township, New Jersey by Mrs. Nancy Gridley and Mrs. Laura Oakes, this site is well done, easy to use and provides lots of great sites.
http://www.wmtps.org/eletech/tools.html
VIDEOS
Ø TED
TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. In 1984, the conference started by bringing together people from these three worlds. Since then, its scope has become ever broader.
The annual conference now brings together some of the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, and recordings of their presentations are posted on TED).
This site makes the best talks and performances from TED available free to the public. Almost 200 talks from the archive are now available, with more added each week. These videos are released under a Creative Commons license, so they can be freely shared and reposted. Don’t miss the “education” speakers as well as the “jawdroppers/”
http://www.ted.com
Ø Edutopia
The George Lucas Educational Foundation was founded in 1991 as a nonprofit foundation to celebrate and encourage innovation in schools. Since that time, they have been documenting, disseminating, and advocating for exemplary programs in K-12 public schools.
Their articles and video segments allow viewers to "see" best practices in action. The Video Library contains more than 150 short documentary segments. You can sort the videos by educational topics: assessment, emotional intelligence, project-based learning, and technology integration, or via a keyword search.
http://www.edutopia.org/video
Ø TeacherTube
TeacherTube officially launched in March of2007 with the goal of establishing an online community for sharing instructional videos. Seeing the popularity of YouTube, the founders recognized a need for a more educationally focused venue for teachers, schools, and home learners.
TeacherTube was developed to provide anytime/anywhere professional development with teachers teaching teachers. Teachers can also post videos designed for students to view to learn a concept or skill. The service is free for everyone.
http://www.teachertube.com/
Web2.0
v Wikis
Essentially a web page with an "edit" button allowing users to add and edit information. This provides a very useful, and sometimes powerful, way for the wiki users to collaborate on projects
Ø Wikispaces
Definitely my favorite! Easy to use, quick, simple, fabulous customer support, loves teachers!
http://www.wikispaces.com/
Ø Wetpaint
A solid, popular tool.
http://www.wetpaint.com/
v Blogs
Personal site, an online log (also called weblog) containing publication of content sorted in chronological order, with the most recent entry (newest post) at the top of the page. Individual entries (logs) are usually always dated and time-stamped and generate an archive of all previous post including the recent post at the top of the page.
Ø Blogger
From the good folks at Google, this is a great tool. Be sure to just sign up for a Google account as there are lots of other jewels.
v Podcasting
A series of digital audio files created, shared, and heard.
Ø Clickcaster
A very nice podcasting tool that also supports vodcasting (with both still pictures and video)
http://www.clickcaster.com/
Ø Audacity
The most used tool in recording and sound editing, it is free, easy to use and cross-platform.
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Ø PodGuide
PodGuides.net gives you free access to spoken tour guides (PodGuides) for your mp3 player.
http://www.podguides.net/index.html
v Aggregators
Content aggregators are a tool that gathers Web content from different online sources and notifies you of an update on a website.
Ø Google Reader
Clearly a top contender, this is easy to use, thanks to the good folks at Google.
Ø NetVibes
Another strong candidate, NetVibes has recently undergone a significant revamping..very much an improvement on an already good product.
http://www.netvibes.com/#General
Ø PageFlakes
One of the easiest, quickest aggregators on the web!
http://www.pageflakes.com/
v Social Bookmarking
A method to store, organize, search, manage, and share bookmarks of web pages on the Internet.
Delicious
By far the leader in this tool, this is a great tool, but should not be considered the only one!
http://delicious.com/
Magnolia
Similar to delicious, this tool pulls a screen shot of the saved websites and also keeps track of lost links.
http://ma.gnolia.com/
Organizers
v To Dos / Calendars
Ø mySchoolog
mySchoolog is a free, online web-based application that helps students organize their school life easily. Students can organize everything about their school life with mySchoolog anytime, anywhere they have Internet access. Students can organize and share notes, to-do lists, appointments, store documents and files, and add lessons.
http://www.myschoolog.com/
Ø Backpack
Backpack is an all around great organizer including note taking, file storage, to do lists, a calendar, and more. An example use could be that students can create pages in their organizer for each class and manage notes on class discussions as well as upload related files and class documents.
http://www.backpackit.com/
Ø Ta-da
Ta-da makes it easy to... Keep track of all the little things you need to get done, Make lists for other people (co-workers, friends, family), Share lists with the world ("My favorite movies of 2004"), Subscribe to your lists in RSS so you're always on track.
http://www.tadalist.com/
Ø Remember The Milk
Remember The Milk is the easiest and best way to manage your to-do lists online. Sharing, publishing, notes... we've got it all. Receive reminders via email, instant messenger, and SMS. It's free.
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/
v CALENDARS
Juggling your class schedule, extracurricular activities, study time, and social life can be a challenge. The calendar apps below might help.
Ø 30 Boxes
30 Boxes is an online calendar that I feel works great for students due to its simplicity and sharing options. It also features RSS subscription to automatically populate the calendar with feed items on the day they were published – great for tracking teacher blogs and academic feeds. Furthermore, users can access their calendars on the go with 30 Boxes Mobile.
http://www.30boxes.com/welcome.php
Ø Google Calendar
A bit on the advanced side, but once you get used to it, you’ll find it’s quite powerful. Users can create multiple calendars; view by day, week, or month; share their calendars with the web or a select few; subscribe to other shared calendars; and more. More on Google Calendar.
http://calendar.google.com
Images
There must be something more than Google Images!
Ø Flickr
Flickr is almost certainly the best online photo management and sharing application in the world.
http://www.flickr.com/
Ø Pics 4 Learning
Pics4Learning is a copyright-friendly image library for teachers and students. The Pics4Learning collection consists of thousands of images that have been donated by students, teachers, and amateur photographers.
http://www.pics4learning.com/
Ø Classroom Clipart
A Source for Free Clipart, Clip Art Pictures and Illustrations
http://classroomclipart.com/
Sound
Ø Freeplay Music
Awesome sound resources
http://freeplaymusic.com/index.php
Ø PodSafe Audio
Free sound files for you to use, be sure to give credit to the artist
http://www.podsafeaudio.com/
Ø Find Sounds Web Search Engine
Easy search engine for sound effects
http://www.findsounds.com/
Presentations
Ø One True Media
It’s a very easy way to create slideshows on the Web, and add text, music and images.
http://www.onetruemedia.com/otm_site/register?
Ø Show Beyond
Want your students to create PowerPoint but not wanting to do all that training? Wonderful simple tool for use with students of all ages.You can also add music and text.
http://www.showbeyond.com
Tools for Students
v Timelines
Ø circaVie
Creates timelines with video and audio.... looks very interesting and need to add soon.
The main organizing metaphor for these tools is by time/date that can explored in any order. Events are placed on a timeline, and might include text, hyperlinks, images, etc.
http://www.circavie.com/
Ø OurStory
Write a 'story' which is what happened on a date in time, add pictures, video, and OurStory creates a timeline. Imports Flickr photos.
http://www.ourstory.com/
Ø xtimeline
Powerful and well designed timeline.v Attach images or embed media to any entry, provide source info (for historical timelines) tags.
http://xtimeline.com/
v Comic Strip Makers
Ø Toondoo
Create your own 1, 2, or 3 panel cartoons using a library of cartoons, text bubbles. Images can be uploaded and manipulated with simple tools. Created "doos" can be combined into ToonBooks", embedded in blogs, etc. A lot of versatility.
http://www.toondo.com
Ø Kerpoof
A fun to use cartoon tools with stock shapes and character bubbles. No import of media, no audio, no ability to create links or embed code.
http://www.kerpoof.com/
v Notetaking
Ø NoteSake
NoteSake helps you take notes faster and smarter. They keep your notes organized and easily accessible so you can spend your time elsewhere…
http://notesake.com/
Ø Schoolnotes
Teachers can post information homework and other class information on their own personal page for parents to access. Free service with banner advertising.
http://schoolnotes.com/
v Mapping
Ø GoogleEarth
Do not miss this powerful tool with hundreds of uses in the classroom, including creating your own tours.
http://earth.google.com/intl/en/index.html
v Mindmapping
Now you have your notes, you need to put them together. The following mind mapping/flow charting tools will help you get your thoughts in order so you can go from raw notes to polished work.
Ø Bubbl.us
Bubbl.us is a simple and free web application that lets you brainstorm online.
http://bubbl.us/
Ø Mind42
Manage all your ideas, whether alone, twosome or working together with the whole world - collaborative, browser-based and for free.
http://mind42.com/
v Flashcard Maker
Ø Brain Tune
Focused more on sharing topic specific flash cards, which they called catalogs, this site enables its community to compile a highly relevant and expansive database of flash cards. They also display stats on individual community members’ overall performance, indicating how many total questions you have answered correctly.
http://www.brain-tune.com/
Ø Flashcard Machine
Flash Card Machine, a web application that enables users to create interactive web-based study flash cards and share them with others. Students! Create flash cards to help you study for your next exam. Make them publicly available and your classmates can study from the same set. Teachers! Create flash card sets for your students. Assign each set of flash cards their own unique username and password giving your students access without them having to register.
http://www.flashcardmachine.com/
v Bibiliography Tools
Ø EasyBib
An “automatic bibliography composer” that lets users enter sources and fill out a simple forms to be given MLA style bibliographies. I’ve used this multiple times in the past for research papers.
http://www.easybib.com/#sourceList
v Research
Ø Answers.com
Excellent site for researching anything at all. Make a search and receive results from dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other information sources.
http://www.answers.com/
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a collaborative encyclopedia under a Wiki platform that is written and maintained by volunteers. It has possibly grown to be today’s largest reference site and encyclopedia on the Internet.
http://www.wikipedia.org/
Newsvine
I could have picked any ol’ news site for this post, but Newsvine is, in my opinion, the best news source for students. It’s a clean and friendly social news site containing articles from the Associated Press, ESPN, and New Scientist as well as user contributions. Students can browse the site comfortably, rate news articles, participate in article discussion, and even start their own news column where they can write and publish articles.
http://www.newsvine.com/
My Top Favorites—not to miss!
v Blabberize
Rather simple and crude, but can be effective! Upload a picture of a frontal view of a face, mark the key points of the mouth, and record the audio. It creates a simple animation of the mount moving to the sound of the voice.
http://www.blabberize.com/
v Readthewords
ReadTheWords.com is a free, web based service that assists people with written material.
http://www.readthewords.com/
v Letterpop
Letter Pop is a web-based newsletter publishing center. Best of all, Letter Pop is free! The newsletters are easy to create, just add text and pictures.
http://letterpop.com
v Digication
Digication is a website that allows teachers and students to create and keep e-portfolios. E-Portfolios are online spaces for teachers and students to communicate, share, reflect and collaborate in and outside of the classroom and have created exciting opportunities for teaching and learning world-wide. E-portfolios can be a continuing body of work that follow students throughout their school experience. The communication aspect that Digication provides makes for a richer school experience. The Student/Teacher edition of Digication is free.
http://www.digication.com/products/students_teachers
v Shelfari
Shelfari is a virtual bookshelf that you create to show off books that you have read and recommend. It is a Web 2.0 site that allows you to connect with students, other teachers, and parents around books. Shelfari is a great way to discover new titles, discuss books, start an online book club, and show others what you are reading. You can show off your Shelfari bookshelf on your blog, classroom website, or other social networking site of choice. Really cool!
http://www.shelfari.com/
v My Stickies
My Stickies is a browser extension that allows users to create the digital equivalent of a sticky note and link it permanently to a web page. The stickies can be tagged for easy sorting and your stickies can be shared collaboratively. The dashboard is the central page.
https://www.mystickies.com/
v Fleck
Fleck let’s you take any webpage and create virtual post-it notes to “paste” on them. They’re great for students to demonstrate their use of reading strategies.
http://fleck.com/
v Bubbleshare
Create from uploaded images, clip art library, records 30 second audio/video captions for each image. Overlay comic bubbles with text. Code to embed in blogs, web site. Options to have prints made as books, posters.
http://www.bubbleshare.com/